Fabric fastening assembly



May 16, 1967- l. MARFORIO FABRIC FASTENING ASSEMBLY 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Oct. 12, 1964 May 16, 1967 ITALO MARFORIO INVENTOR United States Patent 3,319,307 FABRIC FASTENENG ASSEMBLY Italo Marforio, Via Umberto I, 49, Seregno, Italy Filed Oct. 12, 1964, Ser. No. 403,056 Claims priority, application Italy, Oct, 16, 1963, 21,302/63, Patent 706,990 3 Claims. (Cl. 24-204) The present invention is concerned with pressure fastening assemblies through the superimposition and coupling of two fabrics provided with suitable fastening means.

According to the prior art, pressure fastening assemblies are obtained by coupling two fabrics or bodies, one provided with suitable hooks and the other with loops protruding from a surface of a respective fabric. Such loops are obtained, for instance, by weaving a looped or terry pile type velvet, or by a raising type brushing operation such that the yarns or the filaments forming the pile are not broken, thus obtaining uneven loops destined to be hooked by the hooks; this fabric is treated with suitable adhesive substances in order to stabilize the effect so obtained.

According to the present invention the hooks engage a looped or terry pile velvet type fabric obtained from a fabric in which the warp (or the weft) threads consist partly of shrinkable threads and partly of non-shrinkable or only little shrinkable threads.

Said fabrics undergo a heat treatment causing shrinkage of the shrinkable threads (for example synthetic fibers): during this operation the other threads that compose the same fabric and that are non shrinkable or only little shrinkable, keep their original length substantially unchanged; consequently the floating lengths intercurrent between two successive bindings bend out of the plane of the shrunk fabric forming protruding arch-shaped eyelets or loops. The threads that undergo no shrinkage are called pile.

A fabric like that above mentioned can also be obtained by using threads endowed with a natural elastic compliance or elasticized through twisting process; these threads can be used in substitution of the threads which shrink in consequence of heat treatments: in this case the threads that do not form loops in the fabric are elastic threads that have been left to shrink after having been weaved under condition of elastic elongation.

The fastener assembly according to the present invention is characterized in that it comprises a fabric provided with warp threads protruding therefrom in the form of arch-shaped loops each extending above a plurality of weft threads and all lying in planes parallel to each other.

In this way the hooks protruding from the surface of the fabric forecast in contraposition to the above mentioned fabric with loops can easily hook the loops themselves which lie in equally inclined planes (that in case are orthogonal to the planes in which the hooks are lying) and which show a sufficiently wide aperture to allow hooking to be carried out much more easily than possible according to the prior art.

The possibility of variously spreading the more or less long warp (or weft) floats (floating lengths) of the threads destined to form the eyelets or loops in a fabric ice is unlimited; loops of different size, according to need, can also be obtained in the same fabric.

Owing to the consequent better utilization of the hooking elements and to the easiness of the hooking operation, it is possible to obtain a notable reduction in the number of the hooking elements, with a better fastening and with notable economic advantages. Moreover, the eveness of the fabric, no more raised, confers a pleasanter look to the fastener assembly and also reduces notably the thickness of the two superimposed (coupled) fabrics or bodies.

Another advantage of the assembly according to the invention stands in that the sizes of Said eyelets or loops can be accurately predetermined and adapted to the sizes of the hooks provided in the complementary fabric, so that the same hooks can be of a count and of a size greater than those acceptable in the prior art.

In order to make more fully clear how the invention can be embodied, an example of embodiment thereof is hereinafter described with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:

FIGURE 1 shows, in section, a fabric destined to be provided with loops and not yet subjected to a heat treatment,

FIGURE 2 shows the fabric of FIGURE 1 after a heat treatment,

FIGURE 3 shows diagrammatically a fabric provided with hooking elements superimposed to the fabric of FIG- URE 2, the two fabrics being laid over each other so as to interengage and to adhere to each other, and

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the fabric of FIGURE 2 being engaged by the hooking elements.

As it may be seen from FIGURE 1 the fabric has an even look without the unevennesses that are peculiar to the brushed or raised loops of the fabrics of known type.

The fabric shown in FIG. 1 comprises a ground constituted by a weft 1 and a warp 2; said ground, moreover, incorporates warp threads 3 that form the floats forming the pile, i.e. that are destined to become eyelets or loops.

The lower fabric shown in FIG. 1, after having undergone a heat treatment, assumes the shape shown in FIGS. 2 and 4. As seen, portions of the warp threads 2 of the lower fabric which did not shrink are substantially arch shaped and form a plurality of loops extending upward from the plane defined by the remaining threads of the lower fabric, the uppermost portions of said arch-shaped threads defining a plane parallel to the plane of the remaining threads in the lower fabric. Also, these loops span such a distance that four weft threads 1 pass under each loop.

In FIGURE 3 the two fabrics forming the fastener assembly according to the present invention are shown superimposed to each other in such a way that the hooks 5 provided in the fabric or body 4 engage the loops of the other fabric.

It is clear that fabrics with eyelets or loops of different sizes (even in the same fabric) can be used together with fabrics or other bodies provided with books where the hooks themselves (even in the same fabric or body are of different sizes).

I claim:

1. An assembly for fastening a first fabric over a second fabric, at least the second fabric having a plurality of interwoven warp and weft yarns; said assembly comprising a plurality of hooks extending downward from said first fabric, a portion of the warp threads of said second fabric being of a longer length than the remaining threads thereof, a portion of said longer warp threads being substantially arch shaped to form a plurality of loops extending upward from the plane defined by the remaining threads of said second fabric with a plurality of weft threads of said second fabric passing under each of said loops, the uppermost portions of said arch shaped threads defining a plane parallel to the plane of the remaining threads in said second fabric, said hooks adapted 15 to engage said loops to effect said fastening.

2. The assembly of claim 1 wherein said arch shaped threads are of a nonshrinkable synthetic material and said remaining threads of said second fabric are of a shrinkable material.

3. The assembly of claim 1 wherein said remaining threads of said second fabric are of an elastic material.

References (Iited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 10 2,703,774 3/1955 Morrison.

2,717,437 9/1955 De Mestral. 2,789,340 4/1957 Cresswell. 3,009,235 11/1961 De Mestral 24-205.13 X 3,017,847 1/1962 Keen 28-72 X BERNARD A. GELAK, Primary Examiner. 

1. AN ASSEMBLY FOR FASTENING A FIRST FABRIC OVER A SECOND FABRIC, AT LEAST THE SECOND FABRIC HAVING A PLURALITY OF INTERWOVEN WARP AND WEFT YARNS; SAID ASSEMBLY COMPRISING A PLURALITY OF HOOKS EXTENDING DOWNWARD FROM SAID FIRST FABRIC, A PORTION OF THE WARPO THREADS OF SAID SECOND FABRIC BEING OF A LONGER LENGTH THAN THE REMAINING THREADS THEREOF, A PORTION OF SAID LONGER WARP THREADS BEING SUBSTANTIALLY ARCH SHAPED TO FORM A PLURALITY OF LOOPS EXTENDING UPWARD FROM THE PLANE DEFINED BY THE REMAINING THREADS OF SAID SECOND FABRIC WITH A PLURALITY OF WEFT THREADS OF SAID SECOND FABRIC PASSING UNDER EACH OF SAID LOOPS, THE UPPERMOST PORTIONS OF SAID ARCH SHAPED THREADS DEFINING A PLANE PARALLEL TO THE PLANE OF THE REMAINING THREADS IN SAID SECOND FABRIC, SAID HOOKS ADAPTED TO ENGAGE SAID LOOPS TO EFFECT SAID FASTENING. 